Tiger Woods paid 38 million for his Jupiter Island Home, pictured above
WHAT MOVES CELEBRITY HOMESEEKERS
Real Estate Feature
Star-Studded Neighborhoods
by Matt Woolsey
"...There are all sorts of reasons why celebrities cluster in exclusive enclaves--beachfront property, good schools and extra-tight security to name a few... [and]
'They want to move to where all their friends are,' says Susan Breitenbach, a Bridgehampton, N.Y.-based Corcoran real estate agent, of the stars who flock to Long Island's East End. That also seems to be the case on Jupiter Island, Fla. In January 2006, Tiger Woods joined fellow golfers Nick Price and Greg Norman on the exclusive island when he bought a $38 million, 10-acre compound....
The Hamptons, a collection of quaint villages boasting the million-dollar second homes of dozens of A-listers, lies just 75 miles outside of New York City. Look out for Martha Stewart on Georgica Pond, Gwyneth Paltrow and Alec Baldwin in Amagansett, and Paul Simon in Montauk--a neighborhood so exclusive that Jimmy Buffett tried to buy a trailer there for $430,000... '
Paltrow and hubby call Amagansett home
For people hubbed in New York, there's really no other choice,' says Breitenbach... Back in Manhattan, stars huddle in several distinct neighborhoods. Robert DeNiro, R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe and model Gisele Bundchen call Tribeca home, and Bono, Liam Neeson and Madonna reside on the Upper West Side. In both areas, spacious lofts or multilevel townhouses run into the tens of millions...
Deniro has always been a big fan of Tribeca
Recently, A-listers such as Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger have answered the bohemian call of Brooklyn, plopping down $3.5 million for a four-story brick house with a three-car garage in Brooklyn Heights... At the Southern tip of the country, in Miami Beach, big shots flock to appropriately named Star Island, where Lenny Kravitz, P.Diddy, Hulk Hogan and Gloria Estefan all have multimillion-dollar mansions...
From Sunset Boulevard to Mulholland Drive and up the Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu, Southern California has the highest celebrity concentration of anywhere on our list... Living in gated Beverly Park, where one home is currently listed for $38 million, would put them closer to Santa Monica's First Presbyterian School, where the Spielberg kids went, while living in Bel Air would place them closer to the Brentwood School, which Arnold Schwarzenegger's children attended.
Sean Penn and Robin Wright prefer Ross, in Northern California
Indeed, many celebs enroll their kids in private schools, though Sean Penn and Robin Wright-Penn--as well as Barry Levinson, who lives in Ross, Calif., outside San Francisco--send their children to one of California's best public schools, Ross School... Privacy in all regards is a big part of the celebrity real estate game. When it comes time to buy or sell a home, most celebs do so through limited liability corporations (LLC), which keeps their names off property records and sales listings, even if publicizing the sale might boost the selling price... 'Using their names would help the sale, but they're private people...'
via Forbes.com